The Coming Hope (23:34-24:52).
From this moment on the whole emphasis changes. For even while Jesus is on the cross and suffering for the sins of the world, the message of hope is first proclaimed. In the midst of the fulfilment of His destiny He obtains its firstfruit. And that message will then blossom outwards until it is a message of hope for the whole world. This last group of passages may therefore be analysed as follows:
a Even while He is being mocked Jesus bears witness to the dying thief that this day he will be with Him in Paradise (Luke 23:34-43), the firstfruits of what is to come.
b Jesus commends His spirit (pneuma) to God and breathes His last (epneusen) in such a way as to be a testimony to the Centurion (Luke 23:44-49). Life has gone from His body, but it departs at His own behest.
c Jesus is buried by a previously unknown righteous man, now revealed by name, in an unused tomb, the sign of His special and distinctive holiness (Luke 23:50-53).
d After the Sabbath the tomb is revealed to various witnesses as empty, and the angels declare that Jesus is risen (Luke 23:54 to Luke 24:12).
c The risen Jesus walks with two previously unknown disciples, one of whom is revealed by name, and opens to them the Scriptures concerning Himself, revealing that He is alive through the breaking of bread (Luke 24:13-35).
b Jesus reveals in the Upper Room that He is not pneuma, but flesh and bones. He has experienced the resurrection of the body. Life has returned to His transformed body (Luke 24:36-43).
a The disciples will shortly be prepared for their great witness to all nations and Jesus is taken up into Heaven (Luke 24:44-52).
Note how in ‘a' the witness begins with the dying thief and Jesus declares that He will shortly be in Paradise, and in the parallel the disciples are to be witnesses to all nations of salvation through the cross, while Jesus is taken up into Heaven. In ‘b' Jesus' spirit leaves His body and He commends it to God, giving thereby a testimony to the Centurion, and in the parallel He reveals that His spirit has returned to His body, giving thereby a testimony to the disciples. In ‘c' Jesus is buried by a previously unknown disciple, and in the parallel appears alive, out of His tomb, to two previously unknown disciples. Centrally in ‘d' the empty tomb is testified to, both by the women and the rest, and the angels testify to the fact that Jesus is risen.
There is an interesting phenomenon here of previously unknown persons being involved in this final period, the previously unknown thief, the previously unknown Joseph of Arimathaea, the unknown angels, the two previously unknown disciples. We can compare this with the time of Jesus birth at the commencement of the Gospel where the unknown shepherds, the unknown angels, the previously unknown Simeon, and the previously unknown prophetess Anna, bore witness to His birth. It is a testimony to the many unknowns among mankind in general who were and are involved in the coming of the Kingly Rule of God.
‘And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” '
In this prayer we see the greatness of Jesus' compassion, as He recognises that these people are acting blindly rather than deliberately. And it is for this reason that He can seek forgiveness for them. Theirs was not high handed sin. Thus for those who have committed it there is still a way back. (Once it became highhanded sin through the constant witness of the Apostles they would have ‘blasphemed against the Holy Spirit'. Then their hope would have gone)
Unless there had been good grounds for doing so in the tradition of what Jesus had said, no one would have put these words in Jesus' mouth after the destruction of Jerusalem. Thus we have good grounds for seeing here Jesus' compassion, which He had previously expressed to the weeping women, now being expressed on behalf of those who had put Him there. We can compare with this the words of Stephen, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge' (Acts 7:60).
By ‘them' Jesus may have been speaking of the Roman soldiers, or He may have had in mind all His accusers, but He prays that this sin, the greatest ever committed on earth because of Whom it concerned, might be forgiven. Had He not done so, and looking at it from a human point of view, perhaps the earth would have been consumed at that moment. Without such forgiveness on the part of God it undoubtedly would have been, because of the heinousness of the crime. Angels but awaited His word. But the forgiveness was on the basis that it was not a deliberate sin committed by some who knew precisely what they were doing, a sin with a high hand, but a sin resulting from ignorance (compare Acts 3:17-19). It is therefore no indication that God will one day forgive all, including even those who sin deliberately. It offers hope to all who will repent, but it does not offer a way out for those who choose to deliberately and continually defy God until their hearts are so hardened that they cannot repent. For such this forgiveness does not apply.
In the chiasmus this act of forgiveness parallels Jesus act of forgiveness towards the dying thief. He too had not known what he was doing when he had reviled Jesus (Luke 23:43).
‘And parting his garments among them, they cast lots.'
Underlining the blindness of men and the need for such forgiveness is this act of the Roman soldiers. Before His very eyes, almost at the foot of His cross, they divided up His clothing, which was the right by Roman custom of the execution squad, and cast lots for what could not be divided. He was stripped there of all that He possessed, and hung naked before God. He Who had previously had nowhere to lay His head, now had nothing with which to cover Himself. In His death the world would allow Him nothing but ignominy. This underlines the callousness of mankind, and its willingness to rob God. It also fulfilled the Scriptures describing the lot of the Davidic king (Psalms 22:18). The Scripture demonstrated that it was the destiny of the Davidic king to be stripped naked by his enemies. But this is no manufactured scene to accord with the Psalm. That it happened is undeniable. For it always happened at a crucifixion. But what the Psalm makes clear is that it happened within the purposes of God.
Another significance also lies behind this action. By doing this they left Him naked, so that naked He hung on the cross. The moment the first man and woman sinned they ‘knew that they were naked' (Genesis 3:7). Nakedness was ever therefore the symbol of man in his sin. By the Jews to be naked was ever considered to be shameful. It was also therefore necessary for the One Who died for them to be stripped naked so that He might hang there on display in their place. He was stripped naked that we might not be stripped naked before God. He was there as the son of Adam as well as being there as the Son of God (Luke 3:38), naked in our place, so that if we believe in Him we ourselves may not be found naked (2 Corinthians 5:3).